Building Safety and Maintenance

The risks of not doing so are quite significant and we do not want to see anyone exposed to danger or seriously out of pocket.

In Brunswick Street recently, a large stone cornice on the front of one of the buildings collapsed. The whole street was closed off and two houses had to be evacuated. The repair and restoration works will cost the owners a fortune. The total will run into the tens of thousands. It was lucky that no one was injured or even killed. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that the same thing could happen here. We already lost a couple of chimney pots in a strong gale a couple of years ago.

It can be tempting to think that the only outside work needed to maintain one’s property is to give the windows an occasional coat of paint. That is not enough. It is essential to maintain the whole of the exterior. The extremes of weather occasioned by climate change make things worse, not better. Often, it is the parts of the buildings you do not regularly see, such as the roof and chimneys, that are most exposed to damage. We very strongly recommend that you have the roof and chimneys of your building inspected at least once a year by a good builder and have the exterior stonework inspected at the same time. At the same time, it will also be worth having the gutters cleaned and any vegetable growth removed. This will help protect the stonework for the future. The risks of not doing so are really quite significant and we do not want to see you seriously out of pocket nor, indeed, to see anyone exposed to danger.

When I first bought my property in Drummond Place, I spent money only on the cheapest survey possible. It said ‘seen from the street, the roof and chimneys appear to be in good condition’. The roof was indeed in a good state but as far as the chimneys were concerned, it was a whole other story. The owners of the flats above my property had spent money on an annual survey of the roof of the building but they had never had the chimneys checked.

Shortly after I moved in, I had the builders round and luckily they spotted that a stone on one of the stacks had moved with the result that the whole structure risked collapsing. There was a danger of considerable damage to person and property. We got the emergency scaffolding people round and the chimney was repaired at considerable expense to all proprietors in the two adjoining properties. As part of the checks following completion of the works, it was noticed that the chimney stack on the other side of the building was also in dangerous condition and had to be replaced. More money later, and we now have excellent chimney stacks on both sides of the building that ought to last us for years to come. You cannot go for a cheap fix once the damage has really set in and you must repair using proper New Town stone.

Not so very long ago, two chimney pots came crashing onto the pavement in Drummond Place during a particularly strong gale. Luckily, nobody was injured.

Apart, obviously, from concluding that it is a good idea to spend money on a fuller survey when you buy your property, what lessons are to be learnt from this? I would suggest that it is a very good idea indeed to get your roof and chimneys inspected at least once a year by builders who know what they are doing. You can save yourself a lot of money by dealing with a problem when it is just starting rather than waiting for it to become big and expensive to remedy. I would add to that that if somebody were to suffer an injury or damage to their property from falling masonry and be able to show that you had failed to take proper care there could be a risk of your being found liable in damages by a court. That could be expensive and it is very well worth avoiding even thinking of going there.

Funding or grants for some repair work may be available from Edinburgh World Heritage.